Letters

The Friedman-Durbin Amendment?

In The Week (October 31), the Editors write that the Durbin amendment’s cap on the fees that merchants pay for debit-card transactions prompted banks to “transfer the fee from merchants to their customers” in the form of a $5 monthly charge for debit-card users. But I think it was Milton Friedman who noted that the final consumer pays all costs: The fees were already being paid by consumers. I own a retail store. When you raise credit- or debit-card fees, I raise my prices. (And incidentally, Bank of America has since killed the $5 fee.)